The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
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Vocabulary Quiz In each sentence below from “The Lottery,” circle the best word from the underlined options. (The definition in parentheses can help you choose the right word.)
1. The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a fullsummer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely / convexly / keenly and the grass was richly green. (made or done freely and abundantly) 2. The children jarred / assembled / fumbled first, of course. (to bring together or gather in one place) 3. School was recently over for the summer, and the feeling of liberty sat uneasily on most of them; they tended to gather together quietly for a while before they broke into boisterous / continuous / magnanimous (rough and noisy) play and their talk was still of the classroom and the teacher, of books and examinations / enigmas / reprimands. (a severe rebuke) 4. Soon the men began to gather surveying / manipulating / consorting their own children, speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes. (to take a general view of a situation)
5. Soon the women, standing by their husbands, began to call to their children, and the children came fitfully / reluctantly / poignantly, having to be called four or five times. (not eager; unwilling) 6. The lottery was demolished / conducted / enacted--as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program--by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. (to manage; to direct in action) 7. He was a round-faced, jovial / anxious / capricious man and he ran the coal business, and people were sorry for him because he had no children and his wife was a scold. (characterized by a joyous humor or spirit of good-fellowship) 8. There was a submission / accord / hesitation before two men, Mr. Martin and his oldest son, Baxter came forward to hold the box steady on the stool while Mr. Summers stirred up the papers inside it. (a state of doubt or uncertainty; a delay due to fear) 9. The original paraphernalia / premium / detritus for the lottery had been lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born. (equipment, apparatus, or furnishing used in or necessary for a particular activity) 10. The black box grew pettier / bolder / shabbier each year: by now it was no longer completely black but splintered badly along one side to show the original wood color, and in some places faded or stained. (showing signs of wear and tear or neglect) 11. Because so much of the ritual / annex / mania had been forgotten or discarded, Mr. Summers had been successful in having slips of paper substituted for the chips of wood that had been used for generations. (an established or prescribed procedure) 12. There was the proper swearing-in of Mr. Summers by the postmaster, as the official of the lottery; at one time, some people remembered, there had been a fabrication / stipulation / recital (a formal or public delivery of something memorized) of some sort, performed by the official of the lottery, a analytical / perfunctory / boorish (performed merely as a routine duty; hasty and superficial), tuneless chant that had been rattled off duly each year; some people believed that the official of the lottery used to stand just so when he said or sang it, others believed that he was supposed to walk among the people, but years and years ago this part of the ritual had been allowed to surmount / lapse / sibilate. (to fall or deviate from a previous standard)
13. He seemed very proper and important as he talked interminably / precisely / ambiguously to Mr. Graves and the Martins. (endless or seemingly endless because of monotony or tiresome length) 14. A man suppressed / disengaged / criticized himself from the crowd and came forward. (to release from attachment or connection; loosen; to free oneself) 15. He held it firmly by one corner as he turned and went gradually / haphazardly / hastily back to his place in the crowd where he stood a little apart from his family not looking down at his hand. (moving or acting with speed or quickness) 16. She watched while Mr. Graves came around from the side of the box, greeted Mr. Summers gravely / sincerely / imprudently and selected a slip of paper from the box. (seriously or solemnly) 17. First thing you know, we'd all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns. There's always been a lottery," he added petulantly / tranquilly / emphatically. (showing sudden, impatient irritation) 18. "Nothing but trouble in that," Old Man Warner said cordially / stoutly / adoringly. "Pack of young fools." (firmly; stubbornly; resolutely) 19. Nancy was twelve, and her school friends breathed heavily as she went forward switching her skirt, and took a slip coarsely / daintily / instantaneously from the box. (to do something delicately or in a refined manner) 20. She hesitated for a minute, looking around defiantly / tepidly / ironically and then set her lips and went up to the box. (to boldly resist, to act in a rebellious way)